Twins upgrade staff with trade for Reds' Tyler Mahle
The Minnesota Twins have upgraded their rotation, acquiring Tyler Mahle from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for minor league prospects Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Steven Hajjar.
Mahle has gone 5-7 with a 4.40 ERA this season but he owned a 6.32 ERA after getting rocked by the Cubs on May 24. Since then, he's posted a 2.83 ERA over his past 58.1 innings (nine starts), including a nine-inning, 12-strikeout performance against the Diamondbacks in mid-June.
His home-road splits also play in the Twins' favor. He went 2-5 with a 4.76 ERA in 12 starts at home this season and 3-2 with a 3.83 ERA in seven road starts.
This split could have to do with the stadium Mahle pitched in as Cincinnati's Great American American Ballpark ranks second on ESPN's Park Factor Index which compares the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road. By comparison, Target Field ranks 29th on that list.
The 27-year-old is also under team control through the 2023 season, but the deal comes with a high cost for the Twins.
Steer is the Twins' No. 7 prospect according to MLB.com and was the fastest riser organization this season. In 83 games between Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul, Steer hit .269/.361/.528 with 20 home runs and 62 RBI.
He will be joined in the deal by another hot-hitting prospect in Encarnacion-Strand. A fourth-round pick by the Twins in the 2021 draft, he hit .302/.374/.612 with 25 home runs between High-A Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita and had a nine RBI-game during his time with the Kernels last April.
Hajjar, who was the No. 18 prospect in the Twins organization, is a former second-round pick that has gone 2-2 with a 2.47 ERA for Low-A Fort Myers this season.
The move is the second big trade of the day for the Twins, who acquired closer Jorge Lopez from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for four minor league pitchers on Tuesday morning.
Related: Twins bolster bullpen by trading for All-Star closer Jorge Lopez
The MLB trade deadline is at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
